


i'm okay.

by ansutazu



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, yeah this has nothing to do with vday at all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 06:44:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13676400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ansutazu/pseuds/ansutazu
Summary: i’m okay, i’ll stand here in the time we spent together. // keichi one-shot.





	i'm okay.

**Author's Note:**

> happy vday with the keichis, i guess? i bounced between a lot of prompts trying to come up with something for today but the result is this. it feels like a weird, convoluted, really nothing much type of thing, but. it's here nonetheless.
> 
> also hello this is one of my fave songs from joy rv's tlahl drama? waiting for you is good too. and fox. and shiny boy. basically any song with joy singing in it.

When he received news that his childhood friend had gone missing, his (unfortunately) standard sense of panic settles into the depths of his soul, clouding his stream of thoughts about the blonde’s condition, his health, his well-being, scolding him furiously as he sets out to locate him. But he quickly remembers (albeit the piece of information only alleviates some of his worry) that at a time like this, the blonde would have pulled such a stunt because of the lethargy he felt in the confines of his hospital room and the beeping of its numerous gadgets, the boredom instilled within those white walls, the monotony of every routine test the nurses would do, and the annoyance he had voiced to his angel of death about the incredulous reactions the doctors would give him when they found out that he was still here — that, after seventeen years of being told that he didn’t have a lot of time to live, he was still breathing through the same lungs and very, very much _alive_.

There was, with as little surprise from Keito as possible, a place within the hospital grounds that Eichi could have gone to, a place he had often come to find him before in the past — and taking into account Eichi’s ever-prevalent condition, it was, perhaps, the only real place he could drag his body to without truly pushing it to the limits, lest he be found sprawled on the floor by the office staff, to which they would then impose much stricter surveillance over him, much to his dismay.

(Keito couldn’t help the mutter of absolute annoyance under his breath. He knew that Eichi would throw a fit in the doctors began keeping a close eye on him, but it was for his own good. He understood that his childhood friend was an impatient, selfish brat, but…ah, there was nothing else to finish that thought. Just a sigh.)

He scales those stairs leading to the hospital’s rooftop garden with practiced ease and stamina, rattling the door until it clicks and swinging it wide open. There, in the glowing and ever-blinding sunlight, amongst the green grass and the spring air and the flowers that stretched their petals out for the season, was his childhood friend, lying down on that moderately-sized grassy patch, looking up at the blue sky as cherry blossom petals fluttered by from the trees near the hospital’s entrance, wearing and practically soiling (no pun intended) his silk pajamas in that miniature grass field.

“Were you sent to look for me? Or did you come here on your own volition?” Eichi sits up, greeting his childhood friend with his typical smile, brimming with both his own style of childishness and sense of knowing.

“Getting the funds for this place, knowing my family’s status in this nation, was incredibly easy, you know. My parents are always keen to see the Tenshouin basking in some good light, and I wanted to have a little piece of home while I’m at the hospital. That’s why this rooftop garden was built all those years ago. It’s a small portion of the gardens back home, but it’s still got the same feeling for it. It even has some of my favorite flowers, handpicked by yours truly. Ah…there’s nothing that beats the smell of fresh air. It’s better than the smell of chemicals and medicine any day. Why don’t you come sit next to me, Keito? The expression on your face looks incredibly stressed. That’s no good — if you keep that sort of appearance up, you’ll look stiff on stage. Though I guess that’s a part of your charm to some fans — fufu, but the types of faces you make around me are the ones I like the best, you know.”

“How incorrigible.”

Keito finally takes the empty spot next to Eichi, swiftly pinching the blonde’s cheek for a few seconds before letting go, his irritation slowly subsiding with the sound of birds chirping and the leaves on the bushes rustling. Though he was by no means letting Eichi off the hook for just leaving his room like that…in a quiet place like this, surrounded even by just artificial nature, was, without a doubt, a little relaxing. Though he scowls, it gives of a rather gentle impression, as if it was all for show. Perhaps it was, perhaps it wasn’t — he couldn’t quite figure it out, just like he truly couldn’t figure out every single inch of Eichi’s brain.

And vice versa — Eichi couldn’t quite put a finger as to why Keito kept exerting every ounce of his energy in making sure that Eichi wasn’t being too careless. He guessed that some sort of restraint was the cause of the trouble he had caused as a child — in that case, he was sorry that Keito ended up becoming such a worrywart. But still, to hound over Eichi like that…he wished that Keito would learn to loosen up a bit, to look at his own path and his own options rather than fixating on Eichi’s inevitable death. It was rather cumbersome, a feeling of guilt that, despite Quarrel Festival easing some of it up, continues to plague many of Eichi’s thoughts.

Eichi lies down again, his face turned to the blue sky once more, though he steals a couple of glances towards Keito’s direction, who followed suit with Eichi’s actions and laid back next to him. If they move, their heads would certainly touch; with the space between their hands, any sudden movement would mean that their fingers would brush together. With those planted ideas in his head, Eichi found himself daydreaming of fantasies in which they could stay side by side, just like this, as if they were kids again.

A little different, but it was still a rather simple act nonetheless, wasn’t it? It’s no good — no amount of caution would ever give him the strength to repress those enthusiastic leaps his heart would make, a sort of adrenaline and feeling that could only really be found in that type of emotion called ‘love’.

Ah, that feeling he’s secretly hid inside of him, in a teasing remark made in the softest of tones to the finger that poked his childhood friend’s cheek that would linger a few milliseconds longer than it should have, probably.

And then he figures — the time he had left on this world was quite fickle. Someday he would have to leave it, to bid farewell to the childhood friend that would have laid out his funeral the way they had planned years ago. There would be no more seeing, no more breathing, no more living for Eichi, no trace of his existence as a human being save for the gravestone that would have his name etched to it, with flowers and incense kept alive by those who had it in them to remember him.

It would be pretty painful to have to remember him though, if he says these words out loud; he imagined that it would inflict lots of pain, lots of grief when he finally passes away. Was it completely selfish of him to still feel those words rolling off his tongue, to want to confess something that carried so much weight to it?

That feeling of ‘love’ was a strange thing. It was something that transcended the borders of any other fate before, something that hoped for a red string that led back to the childhood friend next to him, who was slowly but surely falling asleep next to him (he guessed that he wasn’t fully falling asleep because of the fact that he was going to have to eventually drag Eichi back to the hospital room, but a quick nap should give him the energy to do that nonetheless).

In a mix of impulse and desire, he finally eases his way into his confession, finally blurts out the most simplest of words to describe the warmth he felt next to his childhood friend.

“I love you, Keito.”

The boy jolts awake, his head quickly moving to look at Eichi, who had found himself staring a long time ago at the green hair and the narrow eyes and the glasses that he found so familiar. He smiles, picking off a cherry blossom petal from his hair gently, feeling some mixture of relief spread throughout his body, his friend’s face slowly turning red.

“That was — you’re really the carefree type, aren’t you?”

“Maybe. Spring breathes in ‘new life’, after all. What do you say? Should we do something like that together, Keito?”

“Since when did you…” Keito sighs once again, though a timid smile appears, gazing into Eichi’s blue eyes — and with their many years together, Eichi could see that he felt that same way as he stared right back. “I guess I should answer the question before I start scolding you. Yeah…let’s have a new life together, Eichi.”


End file.
